Quotes of the day

posted at 10:41 pm on July 28, 2014 by Allahpundit

Yad Vashem is deeply alarmed by the recently escalating antisemitism and violence against Jews around the world. This virulent hatred is finding various expressions, ranging from attacks on synagogues in France and physical attacks against Jews, to pejorative name calling and refrains such as “Jews to the Gas” in Germany, to the use of swastikas at anti-Israel demonstrations, and antisemitic caricatures in newspapers and social media. Physical and verbal violence against Jews in purported response to the events in Gaza, is antisemitism…

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said, “We call on the governments of the democracies around the world, particularly in Europe, to take immediate steps, using the legal and moral tools at their disposal, to protect Jewish citizens in their countries, and combat the expressions of antisemitism which we are witnessing in recent weeks.”

***

In Britain, police have recorded more than 100 anti-Jewish hate crimes since the Gaza conflict began, including an attack on a rabbi by four Muslim youths in Gateshead, a Hassidic enclave in north-east England, and bricks thrown through the windows of a Belfast synagogue on two successive nights.

In Norway, police have recommended the temporary closure of two Jewish museums, for fear of attack, while in Copenhagen on the weekend police dispersed a pro-Israel rally out of concern for the safety of the participants.

German TV showed protesters from the country’s Arab minority threatening violence against Jews at a demonstration in Berlin on Thursday. Similar incidents took place in Frankfurt and Essen recently, according to police.

At around 2PM, hundreds of demonstrators started to gather on the avenue, which had been lined with riot police trucks. At first, people calmly chanted slogans such as “Palestine will live, Palestine will overcome,” “Zionists, fascists, you’re terrorists!” and “Israel murderer, [President] Hollande accomplice,” but the mood began to heat up once some Israeli flags were burned on the roof of a nearby building. Organizers had asked the demonstrators not to bring anything other that Palestinian and French flags, but many still exhibited Algerian, Turkish or pro-Muslim Brotherhood symbols. As the march was about to set off, the use of the slogan “Allahu akbar” became more and more frequent and a young man started waving the ISIS flag. At the same time, to the dismay of some non-asshole demonstrators, a team of journalists from the French channel, Télé channel was forced to leave as several individuals were threatening them with violence…

As the day drew to a close, the police ran out of ammunition. They tried to regain control by calling the units based in the suburbs of Paris, for backup. According to a young protester who was taking photographs of the clashes, the situation worsened because the policemen, “are on the side of the Jews who own all the stores in the area.”

At about 7PM, passing the Barbès metro station I saw two friends taking pictures of each other while miming the “quenelle” gesture — which is seen by many as anti-Semitic — in front of a couple of exhausted policemen. One of the officers turned to his colleague and said that it’d been a long time since he had last seen such violent riots in Paris…

As Operation Protective Edge continues in Gaza, the Jews of the European diaspora are looking about and seeing an increasingly hostile home. A pair of particularly violent outbreaks of anti-Semitism in France and the Netherlands seems to foreshadow a future conflagration fueled by moral relativism and sparked by Europe’s growing Islamic slums. Muslims spouting Sharia and jihad have no room for Israel and Jews in their future world, and post-Christian Europe offers little resistance to those who promise hate and violence.

Paris’s Jews suffered attacks on three synagogues and a series of assaults and attempted fire bombings in recent weeks. Phrases like “Death to the Jews” are commonplace now in European protests, used almost to the point of trope, retaining raw force only through the sheer strength of the speakers’ hate. Berlin’s air, too, is again polluted by anti-Semitic chants and clamor. More and more, what claim to be “pro-Palestine” or “anti-Zionist aggression” demonstrations are nothing more than platforms to cry for the deaths of Jews everywhere…

German National Socialism is a very particular political system, perhaps unique to the inter-bellum period. Accusations of Nazism are incongruous when applied to Jews, or even Muslims for that matter. But ignoring the definitional incoherence of the attack, it boggles the mind to see racism accepted as political dialogue. Through passivity before radical Islam, Europe attacks Jews who are her citizens, salving her burning conscience by equivocating them with the state of Israel. It is one thing to accuse another nation of using disproportionate force in self-defense. It’s another thing entirely to allow anti-Semitism to flourish.

***

“Death to the Jews” chanted the crowd waving the black flags of the Islamic State, or ISIS as it used to be known. They were looking for new supporters for their cause, the creation of a worldwide caliphate answering to the man who now calls himself Ibrahim: a zealot too radical even for Al Qaeda who has stormed through Syria and Iraq carrying out mass executions, crucifying rivals, beheading enemies. But these marchers were not in Syria or Iraq; they were in The Hague in The Netherlands. And their message was one tailored to the disaffected young descendants of Muslim immigrants in Europe…

Many of the demonstrators covered their faces with Palestinian scarves or balaclavas. “Anyone who doesn’t jump is a Jew,” someone shouted as the whole group started jumping in a scene that might have been ludicrous if it weren’t for the hateful message. “Death to the Jews!” the crowd shouted in Arabic.

This scene last Thursday came in the wake of an earlier demonstration supposed to defend the Palestinians suffering in Gaza, which turned quickly into a hatefest targeting Israel, with people carrying placards that screamed “Zionism is Nazism.” But while the comingling of pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic sentiment has become all too common in European protests in recent weeks, that the battle flag of the Islamic State waved in the streets of The Netherlands on July 24 is something new and particularly dangerous.

***

Even before the recent conflict in Gaza, anti-Semitic incidents were on the increase in France. Last year more than 3,000 Jews decided to move and make their future in Israel.

In May four people were shot dead at a Jewish museum in Brussels.

Governments face a dilemma: they want to defend the right to protest against Israel’s attacks in heavily-populated Gaza and yet they are not prepared to have anti-Semitic slogans once again shouted on the streets of Europe…

Meanwhile in Austria this week, a friendly football match between the Israel’s Maccabi Haifa and a French team had to be called off, after protesters stormed the pitch and fought with the players. The Haifa captain, Yossi Benayoun, defended his players for fighting back, saying “We had no choice but to defend ourselves”.

The pitch invaders in Austria were mostly immigrants of Palestinian origin, and around Europe the new anti-Semitism is being seen a phenomenon confined to Arab and Muslim communities.

Very often, anti-Israel protesters treat Israel not just as a nation at war – like Britain, America or France, which also frequently launch wars that kill huge numbers of civilians – but also as the warper of policy and morality in the West, as a source of poison in global affairs, as the architect of instability across the globe. Indeed, a few years ago a poll of Europeans found that a majority of them view Israel as “the biggest threat to world peace”. So Israel is undoubtedly singled out by Leftists and others, and even more significantly it is singled out in a way that the Jews used to be singled out – that is, as a sinister, self-serving corrupter of nations and causer of chaos.

Much of today’s anti-Israel protesting has a conspiracy-theory feel to it, with its talk about powerful lobby groups designing wars behind closed doors in order to isolate Israel’s enemies and boost Israel’s fortunes. And this is in keeping with Left-wing politics generally, today. The Left has increasingly embraced a conspiracy-theory view of the world. It is now very common to hear Leftists talk about the “cabals of neocons” who control world affairs, or the “cult of bankers” who wreak havoc on our economies, or the Murdoch Empire that “orchestrates public life from the shadows” (to quote Labour MP Tom Watson). All seriously analytical and nuanced readings of international trends and political dynamics have been elbowed aside by contemporary Leftists, who prefer instead to argue that dark, hidden, mysterious forces are ruining politics, plotting wars, and enriching themselves at the expense of the poor. And, as history shows us, there is a thin line between railing against wicked cabals and cults and wondering out loud whether the Jews are secretly running world affairs, or at least wielding a disproportionate influence…

It is not an accident that the three key planks of the Left-wing outlook today – the anti-Israel anti-war sentiment, the shallow anti-capitalism of Occupy, and the worship of those who leak info from within the citadels of power – should all have had issues with anti-Semitism. It is because the left, feeling isolated from the public and bereft of any serious means for understanding modern political and economic affairs, has bought into a super-simplistic, black-and-white, borderline David Icke view of the world as a place overrun and ruled by cabals and cults and sinister lobby groups. And who has always, without fail, been the final cabal, the last cult, to find themselves shouldering the ultimate blame for the warped, hidden workings of politics, the economy and foreign turmoil? You got it – the Jews.

***

These days, though, it’s not always subtext. Listen to the Occupy protesters in the clip above. Read this chilling article from a Chavist newspaper in Venezuela. Worst of all, consider the slogans chanted by the crowds around Europe as they attack Jewish shops. Ponder this shaming statement that the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial organisation has felt driven to put out. This isn’t about Israel now, if ever it was. It’s about something altogether older and uglier.

Our political opinions often reflect our character traits. If you’re a generous and optimistic person, if you take pleasure in the success of others, you’re likely to be cheered by the story of the Jewish people, their success against the odds, their disproportionate intellectual contribution to mankind. Far from decrying commercial and financial accomplishments, you recognise them as a source of happiness for everyone.

And again, you have to ask yourself, what do these groups want? What would they accomplish if they could accomplish anything? What would the Israelis do if they could do what they want? They would live in peace with their neighbors, if they had neighbors who would live in peace with them. They would simply continue to build out their high tech sector and thrive…

What do groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda and even Hamas want? They want to impose their religious views on the rest of humanity. They want stifle every freedom that decent, educated, secular people care about. This is not a trivial difference. And yet judging from the level of condemnation that Israel now receives, you would think the difference ran the other way.

This kind of confusion puts all of us in danger. This is the great story of our time. For the rest of our lives, and the lives of our children, we are going to be confronted by people who don’t want to live peacefully in a secular, pluralistic world, because they are desperate to get to Paradise, and they are willing to destroy the very possibility of human happiness along the way. The truth is, we are all living in Israel. It’s just that some of us haven’t realized it yet.

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Which country has been illegally occupying – and I mean REALLY occupying – land belonging to Cyprus, especially Greek Cypriots, for decades while decrying the ‘illegal occupation of Gaza’ by the Israelis even though they withdrew in 2006?

What would happen if the jihadis actually killed everyone, they all stand around looking at each other saying “Uhhh…now what?”

Bishop on July 28, 2014 at 11:15 PM

Given their practice of slaughtering each other over fine points of theology if there are no infidels available to slaughter, the logical culmination of Islam is a single survivor remaining after first all the infidels and then all the apostates are killed.

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”

Golda Meir

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There is NO greater lie than someone who says, “I am Jewish in my heart.”

Where I grew up in New York, I had a lot of Jewish friends in school. That’s not a boast – I had a lot of Italian friends … and Irish friends.

I met most of their parents and a fair number of their grandparents. That was how life operated back then, if you visited somebody’s house you always spoke to at least one of their parents.

If their grandparents wanted to talk to you, you listened … because NOT respecting your elders WAS a serious offense.

A good number of the Jewish grandparents had tattoos on their arms. When you were older, you asked them, “Why?”

Most would politely explain, but you could see the pain in their eyes – so when they stopped talking, you didn’t keep asking … but sometimes the grandparents’ friends would be there too …

Like the night I was attending a Folk Dancing class at the Temple right across the street from our house.

And the “youngsters” were mostly 14 and older, one of them new to the area from the Midwest who asked one of the grandfathers, “Why do you have a tattoo on your arm?”

And he explained … in detail … and ended with the phrase you KNOW but you don’t UNDERSTAND unless you’ve heard someone who survived the camps say it, “Never again!”

We were all proud of our “heritage” and talked about it some the next week. The consensus?

If it had been the Irish, “We would STILL be killing Germans.”

If it had been the Italians, “There would be ‘hits’ from the resulting vendettas for 100 years.”

But we had ALL taken the same message away from the old man’s words:

“Never again!” – Subtext: “Because the next time they try, we will take the rest of the world into the ovens with us.”

Given their practice of slaughtering each other over fine points of theology if there are no infidels available to slaughter, the logical culmination of Islam is a single survivor remaining after first all the infidels and then all the apostates are killed.

Judge; ‘Palestine’ is what the Romans chose to call Israel after they drove out the Jews. It has been Israel for a couple of thousand years (if not longer). The ‘Palestinians are refugees from Egypt and Jordan who want to exterminate the Jews. That’s all.

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

Judge; ‘Palestine’ is what the Romans chose to call Israel after they drove out the Jews. It has been Israel for a couple of thousand years (if not longer). The ‘Palestinians are refugees from Egypt and Jordan who want to exterminate the Jews. That’s all.

DemetriusPhalerum on July 29, 2014 at 12:16 AM

Except that they didn’t drive the Jew’s out, they decimated the Jewish population, which meant to kill or drive out 1/10th of the population.

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

antifederalist on July 29, 2014 at 12:18 AM

You are an imbecile who doesn’t know the difference between a hexagram and a pentagram.

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

How can anyone, even the troll present which will go nameless as he/she/it is inhumane and not worthy of note, deny or be incognizant of the facts on the ground? Well, I answered my own question, didn’t I?

That article specifically relates only to ‘within Gaza’, not other sovereign nations.

thatsafactjack on July 29, 2014 at 12:23 AM

Yeah you can’t escape a burning house by moving to a different room. Israel tells them to go that way because they are about to bomb, they move and Israel bombs them in their new site. It is as if they are rounding them up. I know many of you think it would be a super idea to kill them all, but I feel differently.

So the fact that 100% percent of the Jewish population was driven out means, what? C’mon Oscar. You’re smarter thasn that.

DemetriusPhalerum on July 29, 2014 at 12:24 AM

Yes, I am smarter than that, 100 percent of the population absolutely was not driven out. Despite the Roman decimation, Israel continued to have a Jewish majority population until it’s conquest by the Islamic hoards in 729, and then they represented 47 percent of the population. By the time of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire they still represented 40 percent of the lands population.

I have no idea how to clean an oven, I have never tried other than cranking it up to high and burning off the crud. Opened the doors and turned on the fans to high…OmahaConservative on July 29, 2014 at 12:26 AM

You forgot the most important part–placing any/all smoke alarms in closed-off rooms ;-)

Unless they’re hardwired…then place a damp towel over the sensor(s)… ;-)

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

antifederalist on July 29, 2014 at 12:18 AM

This is deeply unfair.

Coolrepublica has been working so hard to post the most trollishly idiotic comments on the thread, and suddenly you just waltz in here and steal the show.

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

antifederalist on July 29, 2014 at 12:18 AM

Pentagrams have been used symbolically for years for a variety of reasons. I believe we have 50 on our flag.

Yeah you can’t escape a burning house by moving to a different room. Israel tells them to go that way because they are about to bomb, they move and Israel bombs them in their new site. It is as if they are rounding them up. I know many of you think it would be a super idea to kill them all, but I feel differently.

Seeing the photo I am glad to see that hexagram (aka the Star of David) being set on fire . That’s a very powerful Satanic symbol. Israel would be better ditching the hexagram and incorporating the menorah into their flag.

Stop being a jew hating dupe. Gaza has plenty of open space. There are plenty of human relief organizations that would make tent cities for them.

It’s not difficult to find places to flee in Gaza. The difficult part would be preventing Hamas militants from launching rockets from the new locations. Don’t blame Israel for that.

corkie on July 29, 2014 at 12:34 AM

And it’s kind of hard to flee when Hamas goons are trying to beat the hell out of you for leaving. Hamas WANTS civilians to die, CR. Read that until you understand it and it’s significance–Hamas WANTS civilians to die.

Yeah you can’t escape a burning house by moving to a different room. Israel tells them to go that way because they are about to bomb, they move and Israel bombs them in their new site. It is as if they are rounding them up. I know many of you think it would be a super idea to kill them all, but I feel differently.

coolrepublica on July 29, 2014 at 12:29 AM

Do you have any evidence that Israel has bombed the sites they told people to flee too? Any at all? Even a single credible source?

Because they don’t have any ‘citizens’, my friend. Palestine is not an internationally recognized sovereign state. They have ‘residents’.

It has long been understood in the international community that Hamas doesn’t value the lives or the prosperity of the residents of Gaza. Hamas views them as expendable units in its fight to eradicate Israel and possess what Israeli citizens have built there. Even the infirm, the women, and the children.

All posts prior to this are null and void except for Newtie, Schad, MG, the guy with the kilt, the gal with the push up bra, the gal with the daisy dukes, whomever smooches me twice, and, Ok Twerp too. I don’t want to get bit. Oh Oscar too.

All posts prior to this are null and void except for Newtie, Schad, MG, the guy with the kilt, the gal with the push up bra, the gal with the daisy dukes, whomever smooches me twice, and, Ok Twerp too. I don’t want to get bit. Oh Oscar too.SpongePuppy on July 29, 2014 at 12:42 AM

The Palestinian Authority, the world’s welfare state, is having another internecine feud between the Hamas militias which control Gaza and the Fatah militias which control the West Bank.

And Fatah, which controls the official Palestinian Authority apparatus thanks to Obama’s support, despite not actually doing the whole ‘elections’ thing, has let slip a little fact about life in horribly oppressed and besieged Gaza.

It’s full of welfare millionaires.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction went on the offensive Thursday, claiming that Hamas in Gaza is corrupt and “doesn’t represent the Palestinian people.”

The Fatah spokesman claimed that while Gaza is one of the poorest places in the world, there are 1,700 millionaires among Hamas members, hinting that the terror group imposes steep taxes on its citizens for goods entering from Egypt and Israel, and that this money finds its way into Hamas officials’ pockets.

You forgot the most important part–placing any/all smoke alarms in closed-off rooms ;-)

Unless they’re hardwired…then place a damp towel over the sensor(s)… ;-)

Newtie and the Beauty on July 29, 2014 at 12:30 AM

That’s nuts.

There are two types of ovens. Self-cleaning and not. I have cleaned both types. The self-cleaning ones lock and seal the oven to burn off the crud. The other kind can be cleaned with nasty chemicals bought from the grocery store (strongly smelling of chlorine — heavy rubber gloves recommended). Latter method is not difficult but is time consuming.